[Los Angeles 9th Reuters]–SpaceX, a space company led by businessman Elon Musk, has newly launched for the satellite Internet service “Starlink” due to the “magnetic storm” generated by the explosion phenomenon “solar flare” on the surface of the sun. It was revealed that more than 40 of the 49 artificial satellites had stopped functioning.
According to Jonathan McDowell, a researcher at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Center in the United States, the damage to satellites caused by solar storms such as magnetic storms is considered to be the largest ever.
SpaceX explained in a statement posted on its website on the 8th that it launched the satellite into a “low earth orbit” at an altitude of about 210 km on the 3rd and became unusable due to a magnetic storm on the following 4th.
He explained that satellite launches are usually placed in low earth orbit at the beginning, and if a functional defect is found in the inspection immediately after the launch, they are re-entered into the atmosphere so that they can be incinerated.
When the 49 satellites were launched on the 3rd, there was no explanation as to whether they were aware of the effects of the solar storm that occurred a few days ago.
The US Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a “magnetic storm warning” for a few days, which coincides with the launch. Solar flares, a huge explosion phenomenon in which a large amount of plasma and electromagnetic radiation are emitted from the surface of the sun, were detected on January 29, and it is highly likely that a solar storm will reach the earth on February 1 at the earliest. ..
The solar storm was expected to continue until the 3rd, albeit weakening in the Earth’s sphere.
According to SpaceX, in the low earth orbit where the satellites are in, the velocity and intensity of the magnetic storm caused the atmospheric density to rise sharply, causing intense friction and causing more than 40 satellites to malfunction.
SpaceX has launched a number of small satellites for Starlink since 2019. Musk said in a tweet on January 15 that there were 1469 satellites in operation and 272 were in operational orbit.
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